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RWJUH, UMDNJ-RWJMS Doctors First in Tri-State to Treat Epilepsy with Laser Technology

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Danzig

Newswise NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - Doctors at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School are the first in the tri-state region - and only the seventh nationally - to use laser ablation, a revolutionary, minimally invasive laser technology that utilizes light energy, to treat epilepsy.

Doctors successfully performed the first procedure in December 2011 on a 61-year-old man who had been suffering from epileptic seizures since childhood. The patient has been seizure-free since that time.

During the procedure, a team led by Shabbar Danish, M.D., Director, Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery and Assistant Professor of Surgery at UMDNJ-RWJMS, delivered laser energy through a 1/8 inch hole in the patient's skull to target the area of the brain that is responsible for causing the seizures. As light is delivered through the catheter-directed laser probe, temperatures in the targeted area begin to rise, gradually destroying the unwanted tissue in the frontal lobe portion of the brain, leaving the surrounding areas untouched.

The entry hole through the skull is about the size of the end of a pen and requires just one stitch and a small bandage following the procedure. Only local anesthesia is used. The patient returned home one day after the procedure and remains seizure free. Doctors will continue to monitor his progress over the next several months to determine if the procedure has permanently cured his seizures.

"Because laser ablation is a much less invasive approach than traditional surgery to treat epilepsy, it reduces the risk for many post-surgical complications such as infections, bleeding, speech difficulties and vision problems," Dr. Danish notes. "The recovery time is much shorter and in these cases, the patients returned home within one to two days."

According to Stephen Wong, M.D., an Assistant Professor of Neurology at UMDNJ-RWJMS and RWJUH who specializes in epilepsy and neurophysiology, the technology is an effective surgical alternative that provides new hope for epileptic patients whose seizures cannot be controlled with medications.

"As our first patient's seizures became more severe and frequent, he began to suffer from seizure-related psychotic episodes, which led to antipsychotic drugs and further medication-related side effects," Dr. Wong explains. "Due to his multiple medical complications, he was a poor candidate for the standard surgical resection. Without the laser procedure, the patient's quality of life and independence would continue to diminish over time."

Dr. Wong estimates that three million people suffer from epilepsy in the United States. Of that number, there are approximately 300,000 individuals who may require surgery to treat their seizures and who could potentially benefit from laser ablation.

A second procedure was successfully performed in February on a 27-year-old woman who also experienced epileptic seizures since childhood. She has been seizure-free for about one month.

Produced by Visualase, laser ablation is the latest addition to RWJUH and UMDNJ-RWJMS' growing expertise and capabilities in the division of neuroscience. The Neuroscience Department is dedicated to the research and treatment of a wide range of neurological disorders.

Harvard Medical School opens center for primary care, appoints director

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Danzig

By Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff

Using a $30 million anonymous gift, Harvard Medical School has opened a center to redesign primary care and make the field more attractive to new doctors. As one of its first projects, the center is creating a new training program for residents.

The medical school said Wednesday that it has hired Dr. Russell S. Phillips, a physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, as director of the Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care. Dr. Andrew L. Ellner was hired as co-director.

Phillips, 59, is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and chief of the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he co-leads a task force to improve transitions in care and reduce readmissions. He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University School of Medicine.

Ellner, a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, is an associate physician in the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Womens Hospital and the assistant medical director of the Phyllis Jen Center for Primary Care.

Phillips said in an interview last week that the center has started an Academic Innovations Collaborative that will provide more than $10 million in funding over two years to nine primary care teaching practices at six Harvard teaching hospitals, and to eight affiliated community health centers.

The money will help the hospitals redesign their curriculum so that residents train as part of small primary care teams, rather than see patients in a clinic one afternoon a week, largely on their own. This change is part of the strategy to make the fields of internal medicine, family practice, and pediatrics more attractive to new doctors.

Residents dont want to do primary care because its so solitary, Phillips said.

He said that most practices also plan to hire nurse care managers to help residents coordinate care for the most complex patients. Caring for these patients by themselves often feels overwhelming, and getting help from experienced nurses will make caring for these patients more manageable for residents, and also result in better outcomes for our patients, Phillips said.

The new training program will go into effect at the start of the 2013-2014 academic year.

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Harvard Medical School opens center for primary care, appoints director

Boston Medical Center Joins Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Alternative Quality Contract

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Danzig

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Boston Medical Center (BMC) and seven affiliated health centers will join Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) Alternative Quality Contract (AQC). The five year agreement combines a global budget with significant performance incentives based on nationally endorsed measures tied to quality, health outcomes, and patient experience. BMC will manage the growth in health care spending to a level that falls below BCBSMAs network average expense trend.

The AQC has become a national model for payment reform and we are pleased that Boston Medical Center has committed to working with us in a deeper, more collaborative way to lower the cost and improve the quality of the care they deliver to their patients, said Andrew Dreyfus, President and CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. The agreement continues to validate that the AQC is an attractive model that can work for a variety of provider organizations including urban hospitals and community health centers - that are committed to lower the cost and improve the quality of health care.

BMC works with an extensive network of community health centers in Boston, including seven that will participate in the AQC contract: Codman Square Health Center, Dorchester House Multi-Service Center, East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, Greater Roslindale Medical & Dental Center, South Boston Community Health Center, South End Community Health Center, and Upham's Corner Health Center. By joining the AQC, BMC is not only committing to improving the cost and quality of care for patients that seek care at Boston Medical Center - they are committing to work with the seven health center partners to improve the quality and cost of care for patients receiving their care in a health center setting. The AQC contract will also include Boston Medical Centers community-based primary care physicians who are part of the Boston University Affiliated Physicians (BUAP) group. These practices are in Bostons Back Bay and South End, Foxboro, Norwood, and Taunton.

BMCs focus is providing high quality, affordable and accessible care to all our patients, and we work closely with our community health center partners to deliver on that high standard, whether its here at the hospital or in the community, said Kate Walsh, BMC President and CEO. Participating in this agreement together gives us an exciting opportunity to coordinate even more closely, and that will mean even better care for our BCBSMA patients.

East Boston Neighborhood Health Center (EBNHC) provides a range of high quality services to the communities we serve. BMC is a key partner in efficiently and effectively meeting the full spectrum of our patients health needs. Joining together in this agreement not only strengthens our ability to provide great care, its a model for the kind of innovation in health care delivery were all working toward, said John P. Cradock, EBNHC President and CEO.

This agreement brings nearly 800 additional physicians into the AQC who care for approximately 13,000 of BCBSMAs in-state HMO members. The AQC now has more than two-thirds of doctors in BCBSMAs in-state HMO network participating who provide care to approximately 76% of BCBSMA members.

With their significant gains in quality, AQC providers now significantly outperform the rest of BCBSMAs fee-for-service network on a comprehensive set of quality and outcome measures. This is particularly true in managing chronic illness, preventive care screenings and treating depression. Recent independent studies conducted by Harvard Medical School, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and Brandeis University, published in Health Affairs, found that the AQC is achieving its twin goals of improving care and slowing costs.

These studies found that in the first year of the AQC:

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (www.bluecrossma.com) is a community-focused, tax-paying, not-for-profit health plan headquartered in Boston. Celebrating our 75th anniversary in 2012, we are committed to working with others in a spirit of shared responsibility to make quality health care affordable. Consistent with our corporate promise to always put our members first, we are rated among the nations best health plans for member satisfaction and quality.

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Boston Medical Center Joins Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Alternative Quality Contract

Kalousek First COMP Graduate to Become Dean of an Osteopathic Medical School

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Danzig

POMONA, CA--(Marketwire -03/28/12)- Dr. Kay Kalousek, College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (COMP) associate dean and associate professor at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, Calif., is the first COMP graduate to become dean of an osteopathic medical school.

A.T. Still University (ATSU) announced on March 27, 2012 that Kalousek had been appointed dean of the School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (SOMA) in Mesa, Ariz. She will begin her duties on July 1.

Kalousek, who earned her DO degree from COMP in 1989 and her Master's in Health Professions Education in 1994, has been involved with COMP and WesternU for nearly 27 years, ever since she walked onto the campus as a student in 1985.

"Being involved in teaching and facilitating groups and getting more involved in academic medicine during my career has prepared me for my new role, because I've worn many different hats at COMP," Kalousek said. "Under the leadership and mentorship of COMP Dean Clinton Adams, who in my opinion is the best dean in all of the country, I've been able to learn what I would do as a dean and how to make a college successful. COMP certainly has become very successful."

Kalousek, DO, MS, MSHPE, AAHIVS, FACOFP, joined COMP part-time in 2000 and became full-time faculty in 2007.

Kalousek regularly volunteers her time for the underserved and has guided many students by teaching and being a preceptor. She has served several roles in non-profit organizations, including past service as chair of the board of the Foothill AIDS Project.

The City of Montclair named her Volunteer of the Year in 1993, the DO Class of 2006 honored her as Most Inspirational Faculty Member, and she has received many other awards.

In 2010, the California chapter of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (ACOFP) presented her with its Physician of the Year award.

Since COMP's opening in 1977 (the college became Western University of Health Sciences in 1996), the college's graduates have held or are holding many prestigious positions, but this is the first time a graduate of COMP will become dean of an osteopathic medical school, Dean Adams noted.

"Dr. Kalousek has prepared long and hard for this opportunity, having been a leader in the complete revamping of our curriculum to enhance our student-centered lifelong learning experience," said Adams. "She has frequently said 'I came back to COMP because I wanted it to be better than when I was here.'"

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Kalousek First COMP Graduate to Become Dean of an Osteopathic Medical School

‘Mini medical school’

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Danzig

March 28, 2012 Mini medical school FSHS students visit West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine

By Mary Wade Burnside Times West Virginian The Times West Virginian Wed Mar 28, 2012, 05:01 AM EDT

FAIRMONT Austin Patterson wants to pursue a career as an orthopedic surgeon, and getting to perform such medical functions as an intubation putting a tube down an airway passage of a mannequin during a visit to the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine encouraged his dream.

We got to try two different tools to do it and decide which one we liked better and which one was easier,Patterson said.

Instead of deterring him from his desire to be an orthopedic surgeon an idea he

got from his godfather, who practices at United Hospital Center It influenced me more,said the Fairmont Senior High School student.

Patterson was among 13 Fairmont Senior students who traveled to the school, located in Lewisburg, to talk to current medical students and learn more about the types of scenarios and conditions that they will get to in the future if they do decide to pursue medicine as a career.

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‘Mini medical school’

Medical school designs unveiled

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Danzig

Another piece of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus began to take shape Wednesday, as architects showcased their ideas for a new medical school at the corner of Main and High streets at the edge of downtown.

The University at Buffalo last month invited four teams to compete for the chance to design the new $375 million School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and Wednesday the teams showed UB what they had to offer.

It was challenging, said David Rolland, project director for Rafael Vinoly Architects, which partnered with FoitAlbert Associates. But this is, as architects, what we love. We love the challenge.

UB is scheduled to break ground on the project in September 2013.

Each of the design teams, big-name firms with offices around the world, brought a different vision to the new medical school.

Pelli Clarke Pelli Associates and Cannon Design partnered to create a sleek building with lots of glass and a curved facade at the corner of Main and High.

Rafael Vinoly designed a 10-story, glass structure that included winter gardens and a circular staircase that winds its way throughout the inside of the building.

Grimshaw Architects and Davis Brody Bond designed a building shaped like two bars one a six-story, one nine-story with cascading glass connecting the two to draw in the natural light.

Helmuth, Obata & Kassabaum came up with a masonry and glass building that would incorporate retail on the ground floor to draw in the public along Main Street.

We see it as an opportunity to create activity on the street, said Ken Drucker, design partner with HOK.

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Medical school designs unveiled

MU names new medical school dean

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Danzig

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Marshall University has tapped a veteran kidney disease researcher from Ohio to take over as dean of its struggling medical school.

Dr. Joseph Shapiro, chairman of the department of medicine at the University of Toledo College of Medicine, will step in as Marshall's medical dean on July 1. The Marshall medical school faces big staffing and curriculum problems identified by its primary accrediting body.

"I'm truly excited and enthralled with the opportunity to lead this terrific medical school into the future," Shapiro told a large audience at Marshall's campus on Tuesday. "We face some challenges, some might say crisis, but out of crisis we're going to find opportunity to serve the population of West Virginia and make this part of the world a better place."

The School of Medicine was placed on probation in June by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education for a lack of diversity, lack of scholarly activity, a poorly integrated curriculum and a breakdown in student advising.

"Our real problem was infrastructure," said Dr. Robert Nerhood, interim dean of the School of Medicine. "We had too few faculty to do too much, and a consequence of that was that some things didn't get done."

The LCME identified 10 areas of concern in a June 15 letter to Marshall University President Stephen Kopp, among them a lack of debt counseling and career advising.

According to the letter, 32 percent of students who graduated in 2010 left the school with debt of more than $200,000.

The school has two years to correct the problems and must tell all new students about the accreditation problems. Marshall appealed the LCME accreditation decision in October, but their request was denied.

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Marshall University has tapped a veteran kidney disease researcher from Ohio to take over as dean of its struggling medical school.

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MU names new medical school dean

Medical school denied funding to increase class size

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Danzig

by: Tyler North on March 28, 2012

Med school employees Scott Kimberlin and Sage Bates make their way to the Neurosurgery Department Tuesday at the School of Medicine.

The School of Medicine was recently denied funding for a class size increase by the Utah Legislature.

Currently, the School of Medicine accepts 82 students per year to its program, a drop of 20 students from 2010. Lack of funding and many other reasons caused the school to decrease its size during the past two years.

In the recent legislative session, higher education in Utah received an overall boost in the budget, but the School of Medicines initiative was turned down.

I was disappointed we didnt fund the medical school, but that is not to say we didnt give plenty to higher education, said Sen. Ross Romero, D-Salt Lake City, who supported the School of Medicines initiative. We helped higher education by increasing the budget by three percent.

Utah is ranked No. 46 nationally in the number of physicians per population with the projection for physician supply worsening in the future, according to the School of Medicines web page.

We really do have a shortage of physicians and especially in pediatrics and rural areas, said Chris Nelson, Health Sciences spokesman. For this reason, our top priority is to grow the class size over the next two years.

The School of Medicine received 1,500 applicants for its 82 positions in 2011. Under the proposed plan, the School of Medicine first intends to restore class sizes to 102 students and then increase accepted applicants to 122 as soon as possible.

Just to restore it back to 102 is $6 million per year, Nelson said.

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Medical school denied funding to increase class size

More U. doctors

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Danzig

More U. doctors

The shortage of seats in the University of Utah medical school means that some of the Beehive States brightest youths will leave for medical school elsewhere and the potential for Utah to add to its pool of primary-care doctors will shrink.

The state so far has not seen a critical shortage of primary-care doctors, even though doctors in Utah are paid only two-thirds the national average, but that could change quickly. Rural areas already have a hard time keeping physicians in town.

The Utah Legislature decided not to restore the U. medical school classes to 102, an increase of 20 over the current number, set in 2010 because of declining revenue. The U. medical school gets just 4 percent of its budget from state funds, while the national mean for public university medical schools is 14 percent.

U. administrators say the medical school, the only one for 500 miles, should have an enrollment of 122 per class and they have proposed a deal to share costs that would increase annual contributions from state coffers by $9.6 million and from the U.s clinical departments by $12 million.

That is a sensible way to prevent Utah finding itself with a critical shortage of "family doctors," who are the first line of defense in health care, as other states are facing. Besides the low medical-school enrollment, the states relatively low pay for physicians, especially those in primary care, could mean more undergraduates leaving Utah to study and then practice elsewhere.

The alternative of raising tuition would result in medical-school graduates going deeper in debt to finance their training and then potentially being lured into medical specialties, rather than family practice, in order to repay loans and support families.

The Legislature was generous in filling some requests from higher education officials in its session just ended. But the university is farsighted in continuing to press for additional medical school funding to boost enrollment.

Its important to those bright young Utahns who want to train and practice as doctors in their home state so they can raise their families here. The U. recognizes that and reserves 70 percent of slots for Utah residents.

And its important, not only to families with children but also the growing elder population. The number of Utahns65andolder is expected grow by 50 percent between 2000 and2015, and by 155 percent by 2030. Their need for medical services will grow just as fast. The state has a duty to meet those needs.

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More U. doctors

New Guidelines Issued for Red Blood Cell Transfusions

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Danzig

Based on Research by UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Physician

Newswise New Brunswick, NJ -- The transfusion of red blood cells is a common treatment in clinical practice. However, the level at which they are transfused varies based not only on a patients health, but also is determined by what the administering physician deems appropriate. Today, the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) has issued new guidelines, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, recommending that transfusion of red blood cells be considered at a hemoglobin threshold of 7 to 8 g/dL for stable adults and children. This recommendation to use a restrictive approach not only saves blood, but also reduces the costs related to unnecessary transfusions.

A systematic review of published research determined that a restrictive approach to red blood cell transfusions would provide the best clinical outcomes for patients without causing harm, said Jeffrey L. Carson, the Richard C. Reynolds Professor of Medicine at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, who chaired the guideline committee and is the first author of the guidelines found at: Red Blood Cell Transfusion: A Clinical Practice Guideline From the AABB (http://www.annals.org/content/early/2012/03/26/0003-4819-156-12-201206190-00429?aimhp). It is important however that physicians consider other clinical conditions when determining transfusion levels to ensure patient safety.

The AABB recommendations four in all are based on the systematic review of research published from 1950 to 2011 which examines the proportion of patients, both adult and children, who received any red blood cell transfusion for medical or surgical reasons, and the number of red blood cell units transfused. The guidelines also recommend a restrictive transfusion approach for patients with preexisting cardiovascular disease but indicate that it is unknown when transfusion should be given to a patient hospitalized for a heart attack. The fourth guideline recommends that the patients symptoms, in addition to hemoglobin levels, be considered when determining transfusion levels.

Dr. Carson was the study chair for the Transfusion Trigger Trial for Functional Outcomes in Cardiovascular Patients Undergoing Surgical Hip Fracture Repair, known as FOCUS, the results of which were published in December 2011 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The results of FOCUS contributed to these guidelines as did two previously published systematic reviews of research by Dr. Carson and colleagues.

Dr. Carson developed the guidelines along with specialists in cardiology, pediatrics, critical care medicine, trauma and anesthesia who formed a 20-member panel of experts.

About UMDNJ-ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON MEDICAL SCHOOL

As one of the nations leading comprehensive medical schools, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in education, research, health care delivery, and the promotion of community health. In cooperation with Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, the medical schools principal affiliate, they comprise one of the nation's premier academic medical centers. In addition, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School has 34 other hospital affiliates and ambulatory care sites throughout the region.

As one of the eight schools of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey with 2,800 full-time and volunteer faculty, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School encompasses 22 basic science and clinical departments, hosts centers and institutes including The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the Child Health Institute of New Jersey, the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, and the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey. The medical school maintains educational programs at the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels for more than 1,500 students on its campuses in New Brunswick, Piscataway, and Camden, and provides continuing education courses for health care professionals and community education programs. To learn more about UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, log on to rwjms.umdnj.edu. Find us online at http://www.Facebook.com/RWJMS and http://www.twitter.com/UMDNJ_RWJMS.

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New Guidelines Issued for Red Blood Cell Transfusions

Shapiro named Marshall medical school dean

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Danzig

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Dr. Joseph I. Shapiro was named dean of Marshall University's medical school on Tuesday.

Shapiro currently serves as associate dean for business development and medical chairman at the University of Toledo's College of Medicine. He was picked through a nationwide search that started last summer.

"It is a great honor and privilege to be associated with this fabulous organization, and I firmly believe that the coming years will present great opportunity for the school to expand its purview in the areas of education, research and service as we pursue our mission to improve the health of West Virginia," Shapiro said.

Shapiro's appointment comes five months after an accrediting body placed the medical school on probation due to noncompliance with accreditation standards in several areas.

Marshall President Stephen J. Kopp highlighted Shapiro's work in academic medicine, research knowledge and clinical and business experience.

"More than anything else, however, we believe he embraces the ideals that distinguish our School of Medicine, and he knows the direction we must take to continue to build on the great tradition and proud heritage at Marshall," Kopp said.

Shapiro has more than 30 years of clinical and teaching experience and specializes in kidney care. He succeeds Dr. Robert C. Nerhood, who had been serving as interim dean of the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine.

Dr. Charles McKown stepped down as dean last year to become the Huntington school's vice president for health sciences advancement.

Shapiro has served as an investigator on nearly three dozen grant-funded projects totaling more than $30 million. He has been involved with the creation of three spin-off companies from that research. In addition, he holds patents on 14 medical inventions and has written more than 100 research articles.

In October, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education denied Marshall's appeal of its June 2011 recommendation of probation for the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine. Under the committee's rules of procedure, programs on probation retain their accreditation. But the committee can revoke the accreditation if any noncompliance is detected within a two-year period.

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Shapiro named Marshall medical school dean

USC medical school student could work in Florence

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Danzig

Officials are pondering a plan that would bring third- and fourth-year medical students from the USC School of Medicine to study in Florence beginning in 2014.

Officials from Francis Marion University, McLeod Regional Medical Center and the Carolinas Hospital System are pondering a plan that would bring third- and fourth-year medical students from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine to study in Florence beginning in 2014.

A meeting last week with an outside consultant was designed to give the participants a financial framework for the plan. The institutions involved would need to hire additional teaching and supervisory staff. The students 25 to begin with, with as many as 60 at some later date would work and study at Florence-area hospitals their last two years of medical school at USC.

The idea of opening a med school practicum in Florence stems from the recent decision to create a branch of the USC Med School in Greenville. The USC School of Medicine-Greenville is scheduled to enroll its first class of students this fall. When those students begin their third year in the new program, they will displace the nearly 60 USC students who currently complete their third and fourth years of study in Greenville.

Because the new Greenville school represents an expansion of the USC School of Medicines enrollment, the school will need to find a new place for those students.

Local officials here say Florence is a natural choice. The Pee Dee area is about to become the only area of the state without a med school (the state will have medical schools in Columbia and Charleston, as well as the new school in Greenville), and Florence already has extensive medical facilities.

It would be a great fit, said Dr. Eddie Floyd, a local cardiologist and philanthropist who is shepherding the plan. Were all working together on this and it will really enhance what we have to offer, both as a city and a medical community.

MCT

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USC medical school student could work in Florence

John Hopkins consider opening a Medical School in Malta

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Danzig

John Hopkins Medicine, one of the top medical institutions in the United States, is exploring the possibility of opening a Medical School in Malta to offer medical courses to local and foreign students. John Hopkins Medicine is considering buying St Philips Hospital which can house up to 120 beds but as that will not be enough to provide the wide range of patients needed for a proper medical education, an arrangement would have to be reached with Mater Dei Hospital and the Medical School of the University of Malta to provide access to at least another 100 patients.

The University of Malta resisted a similar attempt by the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland (RCSI) to open an international medical school in Malta. RCSI also needed access to Mater Dei Hospital for its medical students. The University of Malta had proposed the opening of another medical school together with St Georges University of London but this proposal got nowhere. While RCSI were ready to invest in Malta, St Georges did not have the money to do so.

Last May the Ministry of Health commissioned John Hopkins Medicine International (JHI) to carry out a systems revue and needs assessment at Mater Dei Hospital with the aim of enhancing hospital efficiency to continue to improve access and the quality of service delivered to Maltese patients.

The Maltese government had said that this is in line with its stated objective that Malta should become a healthcare centre-of-excellence for the Mediterranean region within the wider context of Vision 2015.

Government had been also considering contracting John Hopkins Medicine International to manage Mater Dei Hospital but has given up the idea as the management fee was going to cost 10 million a year.

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John Hopkins consider opening a Medical School in Malta

Principal expects school medical clinic will be busy

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Danzig

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Editorial: Medical education expansion needs buy-in – Sun, 25 Mar 2012 PST

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Danzig

March 25, 2012 in Opinion

A week ago Friday was match day for the first class of students to complete their studies at the WWAMI medical school program inSpokane.

Six of the 20 matched with Spokane-area residencies, the most ever for the University of Washington School of Medicine, which administers the Spokane program in conjunction with Washington State University. Odds are, those doctors will remain in Eastern Washington, where they will help remedy an ongoingshortage.

If so, the potential that Spokane-trained doctors would remain in the region will have been realized, as it has been hundreds of times since WWAMI was established 40 years ago to educate and retain more doctors in the participating states: Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana andIdaho.

About 4,600 doctors in five states, including 400 in Spokane, help train WWAMI students. That multistate distribution of students into every corner of the region has been one of the programs uniquecharacteristics.

Students on the UW/WSU Riverpoint Campus still transfer to Seattle for their second year of training, but a pilot program to be launched in 2013 will allow them to stay in Spokane and root themselves more firmly in the InlandNorthwest.

Spokane businesses, individuals and foundations are raising $2.3million to sustain the pilot for two years, with the expectation its success will convince legislators to provide the money in the future. The community, which pushed doggedly to get a medical school here, is putting its money where its maxillais.

WWAMI is abargain.

The average cost of medical education in the United States is $105,000 per year, per student. WWAMI does the job for $65,000, yet is consistently named best program for educating rural doctors and familypractitioners.

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Editorial: Medical education expansion needs buy-in - Sun, 25 Mar 2012 PST

Premeds, Physicians Can Help Meet Global Medical Needs

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Danzig

From Syria and the Sudan to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and beyond, political instability, crumbling or vacuous medical infrastructure, and the refugee crises that follow result in a foreseeable amount of unmet medical need. Many aspiring physicians express that they want to "help people" and "work overseas," but when pressed, they often can't articulate where, whom, and how they intend to help.

Physicians, medical students, and even premedical students are able to make a significant impact on people's lives. In an increasingly interconnected world, which is only getting "flatter," having an understanding of the scope of medical needs worldwide, the human impact of these political crises, and how you can help will empower you to be a more empathetic physician and have a greater impact.

[Learn how medical schools are seeking empathetic students.]

Physicians from throughout the world are working with literally thousands of nongovernmental (NGO) and government-supported international aid organizations to deliver care to those who need it most. One particularly well-known organization is Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF)also known as Doctors without Borderswhich was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999 for its international aid work. The MSF website provides a wealth of information on humanitarian crises from the field, as well as its internship program.

Contrary to what some may think, the people who work for MSF and similar organizations aren't only internists or infectious disease specialists. Surgeons, ophthalmologists, OB-GYNs, and other specialists are desperately needed. The American Medical Association (AMA) has a physician volunteer section that helps to organize and delineate the options as well.

At many medical schools throughout the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean, medical students have an abundance of international service opportunities available to them, particularly in the latter part of their third and final years of medical school. These opportunities are especially valuable at this stage of medical training, because they help reinforce the importance of taking a comprehensive patient history, help hone physical examination skills, and illustrate how medicine is practiced in a resource-poor environment.

While conducting your medical school search, inquiring about international clinical opportunities is recommended, and discussing these opportunities during medical school interviews can help highlight your interest in the school and your commitment to patient care.

[Learn how to prepare for a medical school interview.]

Premedical students also have myriad opportunities available to them. Naturally, premedical students will not have the independent or supervised clinical autonomy of a physician or medical student, respectively. However, they can still make an impact, learn a tremendous amount, and do meaningful work that can improve their medical school application.

To identify opportunities, reach out to the premedical society at your school to get started. The International Medical Volunteers Association provides a comprehensive and no-frills background on how to identify organizations. It also has a student's corner with tips for students, as well as a link to the global health Supercourse, a repository of lectures on global health and prevention. Additional opportunities can be found through idealist.org, and potentially through the religious organization of your choosing.

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Premeds, Physicians Can Help Meet Global Medical Needs

Medical students' talent show to display diverse acts, including songs and traditional dances

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Danzig

Joshua Elder is going to become a doctor.

Tomorrow, Elder, a fourth-year medical student, will find out where hell be attending residency, a stage of graduate medical training when medical students train at a hospital or clinic in another city, sometimes across the country. But as for tonight, hell be doing something hes been doing since he was in high school: singing.

Between taking board examinations, attending class and auditioning for residency, any time Elder has just 10 minutes to spare, he will pick up his guitar and strum a couple of Tyrone Wells tunes. Tonight, hell be performing at the David Geffen School of Medicines 15th annual talent show.

This year represents a very different place. Im essentially done with medical school now. This (event) will be happening the day before I find out where Ill be going for the next three to four years of my life, Elder said. Itll be nice to take my mind off of whats happening the next day.

This years theme is A Night At The OSCEs, in reference to the Oscars. OSCEs are a type of hands-on examination used in the health sciences, in which the medical school hires professional actors to play the role of patients, and students have to diagnose the patients.

The talent show will feature medical students of all years, and performances range from acoustic sets and piano pieces to dances such as the traditional Chinese Wushu.

First-year medical student Christine Thang, the organizer of the event, said the show counters the assumption that all medical students do is study.

Its cool to see how diverse (in talent) our class is, Thang said. When they talk about well-rounded medical students, its what we have here, giving students opportunities to share their talents with peers. Its nice to get away from the books and studying, and its nice to show another side of our medical students.

Elder, who has performed twice in the talent show and also organized and emceed the event his first year, said that, although medical school and singing contrast with each other, he believes medicine is very much an art.

I think people are attracted to medicine when you are interested in the arts because medicine is a mix of art and science. For me the art is research; my creative abilities for music have fit in with medicine at different times. I didnt expect that as much, Elder said.

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Medical students' talent show to display diverse acts, including songs and traditional dances

Braun: UMDNJ's debt looms over proposed Rutgers takeover

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Danzig

Gov. Chris Christies determined and sometimes angry push to remake New Jersey higher education has collided with financial realities that include Rutgers Universitys reluctance to take over nearly a half-billion in debt incurred by the states medical school.

Bruce Fehn, Rutgers chief financial officer, said the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey owes $450 million to bond holders for loans used to build campus facilities. If, as Christie has demanded, Rutgers immediately takes over the medical school and other facilities in Central Jersey, the university could be on the hook for the money.

Worse, the university must deal with conditions, or "covenants," in the loans that could trigger an acceleration repayment clause if UMDNJ loses 15 percent of its assets assets it would lose by transferring them to Rutgers. The long-term loans could become due and payable immediately.

"There has been no analysis of this problem by the state," Fehn said in a meeting of the universitys trustee board on Thursday. Many of the members angrily criticized the Christie plan including one financial expert who compared dealing with the governors office to working with "fourth-graders.

Fehn added that UMDNJs assets were "highly leveraged" so, while it may appear Rutgers was getting more than $400 million in assets, only $50 million was free of debt.

Under the Christie plan, Rutgers would take over UMDNJ facilities in New Brunswick and Piscataway but would lose the Rutgers-Camden campus, with its law and business schools, to Rowan University, a former state teachers college in Glassboro.

Fehn said he was not receiving adequate information from the state to make any judgment about the financial consequences of trying to take over the medical school, especially within the three months demanded by Christie.

The universitys senior vice president for finance and administration also said the university itself doesnt have staff and expertise to make the judgments necessary to assure the trustees they can carry out their "fiduciary" responsibilities. It hired Cain Brothers, an investment firm, to assist the university.

Michael Drewniak, Christies spokesman, issued this statement:

"Rutgers and UMDNJ have both hired independent financial consultants and attorneys to look at the issue, and those experts, along with the Governors Office, have been working collaboratively to ensure that post-integration, debt is appropriately apportioned between UMDNJ and Rutgers and that UMDNJ is stronger financially than it was prior to the higher education restructuring."

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Braun: UMDNJ's debt looms over proposed Rutgers takeover

Harvard Medical School Adviser: Restless leg syndrome

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Danzig

QUESTION: After years of struggling to fall asleep at night, my doctor diagnosed me with restless legs syndrome. What can you tell me about this condition?

ANSWER: Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a disorder of nerves and muscles that causes an irresistible urge to move the legs. It is often accompanied by an uncomfortable creepy-crawly sensation.

As you've experienced, symptoms of restless legs syndrome typically flare up at night, just as you're settling down in bed. RLS not only causes discomfort and distress, it can wreak havoc on sleep, causing daytime sleepiness and mood changes.

Fortunately, certain lifestyle strategies can help you manage it, and several medications can provide relief for more serious symptoms.

There's a common mistaken belief that RLS refers to the jittery, leg-bouncing movements some people make when they're anxious or overstimulated.

People with RLS describe the discomfort as feelings of prickling, pulling, itching, tugging or stretching that typically occur below the knees and are felt deep within the legs. In severe cases, the arms are affected as well.

Movement provides immediate relief, so people with the condition often fidget, kick or massage their legs, or get up to pace the floor or perform deep knee bends.

Primary RLS, the most common form of the disorder, has no known cause. But more than 40% of people with primary RLS have a family history of the condition. This suggests an underlying genetic component. Researchers found five gene variants that predict a greater likelihood of RLS.

One theory is that primary RLS arises from an imbalance of dopamine, a neurotransmitter with many roles in the body, including the regulation of muscle movement. Some of the medications used to treat RLS work by mimicking the action of dopamine in the brain.

RLS can also develop as a byproduct of other medical problems. One of the chief culprits in this secondary form of the disorder is iron deficiency, which may explain why the condition is more common in women, who are more prone to low iron levels. This is mainly due to blood loss during menstruation. Pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding deplete iron stores, too.

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Harvard Medical School Adviser: Restless leg syndrome

Atrium Medical Announces Positive Results of INFUSE-AMI Clinical Trial During the American College of Cardiology's …

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Danzig

HUDSON, N.H., March 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Atrium Medical Corporation, a business unit of MAQUET Cardiovascular, today announced the results of the INFUSE-AMI study (Intracoronary Abciximab Infusion and Aspiration Thrombectomy in Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention for Anterior ST Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (MI)), a multi-center, multi-national clinical trial conducted to determine the optimal treatment strategy for patients with an acute anterior wall myocardial infarction (acute MI or heart attack) with ST segment elevation, commonly referred to as a STEMI. The study findings demonstrated that in patients with large anterior STEMI presenting early after symptom onset and undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), intracoronary administration of the platelet inhibitor abciximab delivered directly to the heart attack lesion site via Atrium's ClearWay RX Local Therapeutic Infusion Catheter significantly reduced the size of the MI at 30 days (primary endpoint). The data were presented today in a late-breaking session at the American College of Cardiology's (ACC) 61st Annual Scientific Session in Chicago and published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

"In patients who have suffered a heart attack, recovery of the heart muscle is often suboptimal despite restoration of blood flow. INFUSE-AMI was uniquely designed to be able to demonstrate whether therapies are able to reduce infarct size in patients with large heart attacks, those with the greatest clinical need," said Dr. Gregg W. Stone, principal investigator of INFUSE-AMI and professor of medicine and director of cardiovascular research and education at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center. "In these patients, the platelet inhibitor abciximab delivered to the infarct lesion site via the ClearWay RX Infusion Catheter resulted in a significant reduction in infarct size at 30 days. However, manual aspiration of the blood clot did not reduce infarct size."

INFUSE-AMI Study Design and Results

The INFUSE-AMI trial, a prospective, randomized, single-blind trial conducted at 37 clinical sites in the U.S. and five European countries enrolled 452 patients who presented within four hours of a STEMI involving the anterior wall of the heart. Study subjects were randomized to one of four study arms, which assessed four different ways to treat the thrombus (blood clot) causing the patient's heart attack:

The goal of the trial was to help identify which treatment strategy could provide better patient outcomes with the goal of reducing the infarct size (heart muscle damage) during a heart attack and restoring flow in the infarct related artery and microvasculature in the heart muscle without an increase in major and minor bleeding. Study endpoints included impact on infarct size at 30 days as measured by cardiac MRI, ST segment resolution, myocardial perfusion, impact on thrombus burden, and outcomes on bleeding.

Results showed that patients randomized to local therapeutic infusion of intracoronary abciximab with ClearWay RX compared to no abciximab had a significant reduction in 30-day infarct size (15.6 percent relative reduction). Patients randomized to local infusion of intracoronary abciximab also demonstrated a significant reduction in absolute infarct mass (22.1 percent relative reduction). In contrast, manual aspiration thrombectomy did not significantly reduce infarct size. No significant differences in any of the major safety or efficacy endpoints were present between the randomized groups at 30 days. Post hoc analysis revealed median infarct size was lowest in the intracoronary abciximab plus aspiration group compared with the other groups.

The INFUSE-AMI trial was led by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) in New York. Dr. Stone was the principal investigator and Dr. C. Michael Gibson, chief of clinical research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School in Boston, served as co-principal investigator. It was sponsored and funded by Atrium Medical Corporation, Medtronic and The Medicines Company.

About the Atrium ClearWay RX Local Therapeutic Infusion Catheter

The ClearWay RX Local Therapeutic Infusion Catheter is an extraordinarily thin, microporous PTFE balloon mounted on a .014" rapid exchange catheter. The ClearWay RX catheter provides super selective, local intracoronary infusion of medication, allowing more medication to act locally at a higher concentration and for a longer period of time to enhance its therapeutic effect on the occluding blood clot and diseased artery. The balloon controllably engages the vessel wall to gently and atraumatically occlude blood flow during infusion thus providing drug concentrations hundreds of times greater at the site of local delivery than traditional systemic drug administration. ClearWay RX maximizes drug availability, concentration, and residence time to greatly enhance the desired therapeutic effect. ClearWay RX is available in 1.0 to 4.0 mm balloon diameters and in balloon lengths ranging from 10 to 50 mm.

About Atrium Medical Corporation

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Atrium Medical Announces Positive Results of INFUSE-AMI Clinical Trial During the American College of Cardiology's ...

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